UPDATED: 11.5.17
If you’ve been involved in computer audio for any amount of time, you’ve likely heard all sorts of conflicting opinions. Over the years, I’ve heard customers make statements like these:
- “Computers use error correction, so upgrading the power supply makes no difference.”
- “If the USB input on the DAC is asynchronous, all the jitter and bit read errors are removed.”
- “If the output from the computer is reclocked, all the jitter and bit read errors are removed.”
- “If the player software buffers to RAM, everything output from the computer is bit perfect.”
- “Batteries have pure DC power, which makes them optimal for any type of digital circuit.”
Though there is some basis in fact for all of the above statements, they are all somewhat incomplete and/or conditional. I wrote this blog to clarify these common misconceptions. To make the information more accessible for readers who are not computer geeks, I’ve generalized my responses somewhat. My intention is to help readers to understand technology so that they can have the best-sounding systems possible. So please accept my blog in that spirit. Continue…
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